All currently serve on the board of Aberdeen. In addition, Rod Paris, chief investment officer of Standard Life Investments, has been proposed as an executive director of the board.

All of these appointments are conditional upon, and will take effect from, completion of the proposed merger.

Once the merger completed, the governance structure of the board will be as follows: Gerry Grimstone as chairman and chairman of the Nomination and Governance Committee , Simon Troughton as deputy chairman, Kevin Parry as senior independent director, John Devine as chairman of the Audit Committee, Richard Mully as chairman of the Remuneration Committee and Martin Pike as chairman of the Risk and Capital Committee.

Also subject to, and on completion of the proposed merger, Colin Clark, Global Client Director, Barry O’Dwyer, CEO Pensions and Savings, and Luke Savage, CFO, will resign from the board of Standard Life as executive Directors, and Pierre Danon and Noel Harwerth, will resign as non-executive directors.

Once the merger completed, Pierre Danon will become a member of Standard Life’s global advisory panel, and subject to regulatory authorisation, Noel Harwerth will be appointed to the board of Standard Life Assurance Limited.

As of end March 2017, Aberdeen managed £308.1bn (€367bn) in assets while total assets under administration of Standard Life Group stood at £361.7bn (€430.8bn). Standard Life Investments’ AUM amounted to £278.1bn (€331.2bn) as at 31 March 2017.

Standard Life and Aberdeen’s general meetings will occur on 19 June 2017.

Adrien Paredes-Vanheule is French-Speaking Europe Correspondent for InvestmentEurope, covering France, Belgium, Geneva and Monaco. Prior to joining InvestmentEurope, he spent almost five years writing for various publications in Monaco, primarily as a criminal and financial court reporter. Before that, he worked for newspapers and radio stations in France, in particular in Lyon.